Without Texture or Time
by SoundGeare
Summary: Uncertain in a strange world, they must battle suspicion, the surreal, and the past. Third and last installment in my NaruHina trilogy.
1. Without Texture or Time

Naruto opened his eyes but the air was still dark. He sighed and breathed back some of that thick, night air. It was tasteless and lifeless, just swirling nothing. Still mostly asleep, Naruto rolled over and glanced at his clock just a few feet away. The two hands glowed weakly green and pointed somewhere to the bottom right side of the face.

Three, four, five? Somewhere in there… but why was he awake? He shouldn't be getting up for another couple hours.

He didn't think much more on the matter before lying back and relaxing again. The air wasn't particularly cold, but Naruto still pulled the blanket tighter. A creaking from above said that somebody was still awake and moving around on the next floor. Naruto just hoped they wouldn't be too loud. A dim memory of loud neighbors above slipped through his head, and nearly formed the basis of a new dream before he found his eyes opening once more to stare mostly blind at the darkness.

Naruto grumbled to himself, some half words born of annoying insomnia. He glanced over at the clock and struggled numbly to understand why he couldn't fall back asleep. The clock's hands both pointed straight to twelve. Midnight…? Naruto didn't know yet if that was good or bad, if there was more than enough time to fall back asleep or if he just might lie awake for hours until the sun rose.

Frustrated by that though, Naruto screwed his eyes shut and tried to sleep by force. This attempt lasted just a couple seconds before he fell to staring around again. He hadn't really expected that to work, but what else could he possibly do? Naruto sighed and examined the clock, hoping that maybe he had only woken up a few minutes too early. Annoying yes, but not so much lost sleep as anything else. The hands pointed to something like two o'clock, two forty something.

Naruto sat back and sighed, then sat up suddenly as the oddity occurred to him. He was bolt upright in an instant, and glancing over with some strange, sleepy dread. The hands pointed in dead opposite positions, so what was that?

Five fifty five

"What the heck is going on?" Naruto groaned into the empty darkness of his room. He raised one fist to wipe at his eyes while swinging both legs off the side of the bed. His eyes stung, but seemed a little more awake. Naruto leaned out over the clock and examined it once again. Eight fifteen on the dot. Naruto cocked his head to the side automatically and let out a small noise, a "huh?" into the air.

One hand fumbled toward the lamp a couple feet away and, upon reaching it, struggled to find and twist the switch. Finally, with a faint snap, the lightbulb popped into life and a dim light was cast across the room. Much of that was lost quickly, leaving shadows to fill all the room's corners and casting a near invisible eerie haze across everything scattered on the floor.

Naruto stared around, wincing in the new light. He coughed once and that noise disappeared immediately into the strange, still air. Something about the scene seemed wrong, and itched subtly in his senses. Somehow it was the same as always, and equally, absolutely alien.

"What the hell…?"

His voice slid out into the strange calm and quickly faded to nothing.

Above the faint reverberations of his words, Naruto detected something scraping and crackling like a fire. These hissing sounds of movement fell down from above, and Naruto froze in his slow examination of the still room. With one hand still clutching the blanket, Naruto glanced upward and nearly choked. Something was suspended, twisting all around the ceiling like a cramped snake. Its body was all black and segmented, sending out a sharp whisper as the creature curled in upon itself.

Before Naruto could take another breath, a pair of eyeless jaws erupted from the dangling mass, diving toward him on the bed. His hands jerked shut and his muscles tightened until the lamp was torn up and thrown against the hard, fast body. The lightbulb shattered into dust, plunging everything back to darkness even as Naruto rolled sideways off of his bed.

The floor clutter jabbed into his sides and stomach, but Naruto ignored that, instead scrambling across it all toward the hiding place for his kunai. There was nothing to see in such absolute darkness, but that fact only drove his senses to focus on the awful sounds of that creature, its tense creaks and slick, sickening groans of movement. The bed groaned too, protesting beneath that monstrous weight.

The air seemed frozen as Naruto's fingers closed around the cool metal handle, as those horrible sounds all aligned to another stab of assault. Naruto gripped tight with both hands and rolled aside. Something smooth and tough brushed against Naruto as he moved, and shoved him further off in that moment of contact. Its slick touch was enough to make his stomach churn.

He was shoved hard against something, and Naruto moved frantically to get atop it and avoid being crushed. Just a moment against the torn blanket told him where he was, and Naruto fought upward. Working his fingers around the object in their grip, Naruto grabbed ahold of his curtains and tore them open.

Instead of the moonlight he had expected, there was nothing. Black, depthless nothing without texture or time. Even if the moon was dark, there should have been lights visible somewhere in the village, but there were none. No clouds or stars or any village.

Another creak told Naruto to drop aside and, in obeying, Naruto felt the heavy whoosh of that creature pass him on one side. A short, preliminary crackle spoke in the millisecond before the air was full of shattering glass.

One further expectation fell aside as a fluorescent grey sludge began to pour past the creature, shedding faint, shifting light onto the slightly reflective surface of its body. Naruto stared gaping at the strange flood and then pushed himself off the side of the bed.

Naruto twisted to land on his feet and looked around at his room once more, taking in all the surreality which had slipped into it. The whole scene was ominous now, and he shifted as the glowing liquid began to flow sickly cool against his bare feet. That and sounds of the monstrous creature shifting around among crackling glass and splintered wood, those were what drove him out finally, pushed him to fling open the door and examine the swirling hall, the fog and sick colors, the vast darkness inside every surface. Hissing, popping sounds caught up to him, urging Naruto to step out into that otherworldly hall.

He shut the door before moving on, and was alarmed when that produced immediate silence. The creature's struggles and the slow, grey flood both seemed a world away by that instant. Naruto fought down chills and took a few uncertain steps out into the shifting corridor.

There was no end in sight.

Naruto looked back at his door as if judging which nightmare to face, and found the choice already made for him. His door was gone, dissolved or displaced, he couldn't tell, only that there now existed an infinite hall stretching out both ways.


	2. Flowers of Different Colors

She opened her eyes and immediately winced in the fair light about. Hinata sat up, still mostly blind, but then opened her eyes, wincing at the emerald green grass surrounding her. She took a few deep breaths as she wearily examined the world, and then one deep yawn with arms stretched all the way out. Once that was past, Hinata climbed slowly to her feet and began to walk. Despite the pleasant sunlight, a slight morning chill remained in the air. Hinata's clothes were damp from where she had been lying in the grass. She wondered if it had rained recently.

Hinata glanced out past all the grass and saw a long wall of trees, deep green atop deep brown, all slightly hazed by the distance. And nearer, some flowers of different colors poked out among the sea of grass. Hinata didn't say anything, didn't feel like breaking the deep silence, but thought to herself how strange and beautiful it all was. She had never seen a place so perfectly nice, it all seemed like something that should have been in a painting rather than to be touched and walked through.

An aspect of this thought touched upon another, and Hinata realized that it did indeed seem more like a painting than any real life. The more she looked, the more she listened, the more that silence grew taxing. There was no wind, or any movement through the wide, pastel world.

Her words slipped into the clear air and floated off forever.

"Where am I?"

With these first sounds, the whole world lost its mesmerizing quality, and Hinata could only see how unreal it all was. Everything was still, and the trees seemed more blurry than they really should have been, and the whole sky was pale and empty, like a poor photograph.

As Hinata watched the sky, discolored flecks began to appear and float about. Their fluctuating numbers grew rapidly until, though minute, the dark points were so tightly spaced as to fill much of the sky. The individual darknesses grew quickly from nothing, and grew larger, grew closer together with every moment. Soon they had filled the sky, covered over the thin pastel blue and whites until there was only that one foreboding color. Its dread edge stretched past the sky and sapped all joy form the world at Hinata's feet. The grass grew grey and the distant trees faded to a dull, ominous fog.

Hinata took a step back, but there was nothing to step away from. She wanted to fight, but there was nothing. She wanted to run but the ill presence was all around. She could only stand and watch as the cool morning turned into a nightmare. And beyond that, she wondered what was coming, wondered what she expected to fight, and wondered where these thoughts were coming from. She listened to her breath and, over that, heard a howling of wind. She felt nothing, but she heard it somewhere, scraping along the dead grey grass.

From the blackness above, a vast number of soft something began to fall and scatter like seething rain. They dropped slowly as an infinite dusting of smudges inside that haunting atmosphere. They dropped past Hinata as she just watched, too uncertain to move, but finally she made herself stoop quickly and pick one from the fast gathering piles.

Once she held one in her hand, Hinata recognized all the soemthings as large, black feathers. Their bristles were thick and pointed, and Hinata made a noise as it cut into the flesh of her thumb. She dropped the feather and watched the blood float out of her split flesh. Hinata balled her hand up into a fist and looked around.

The grass was all gone, all covered over with thousands and millions of fallen feathers. The wind finally arrived, a hot, dry wind which grew quickly to toss the feathers about in heaps. Hinata braced herself among the shifting piles and struggled to keep her balance. The whole landscape was like a stormtouched ocean, and Hinata fought against it all to stay afloat. She was buffeted by wind and feathers, but kept herself upright and watching.

Among all this, she could not avoid a certain sensation of helplessness. She was out in the open, almost blind, as something surely approached. It would be upon her soon. Hinata gritted her teeth and took out a kunai. When it came, she would fight it, whatever it was, however she could. Among all this, crippled by weather and weak as always, she wouldn't win, but she would fight.

As Hinata watched for the approaching threat, a dozen nondescript shapes broke from the endless darkness above. They were only smudges like all the others, but larger and moving with obvious intent. These shapes flew through the air, moving toward her to fulfill that dread. Sounds of beating wings bounced about in the air both near and far, occurring in all times and never. She held tight to the kunai and could not shut her eyes. Not for anything.

The shapes were all distant and surely miles above, but they approached from all directions at once. Hinata bent her knees and prepared to fight. She would hold her position, would not retreat, but through this resolution she felt old panic rise in her throat. She was having a little trouble breathing, but she swallowed and forced herself to.

One of the dark shapes dove toward her, the closest. Hinata held her kunai out in front of herself and waited for the seconds to pass. When it was just yards away, she stepped forward to meet it with the blade high and ready.

Soulless, malicious eyes struck out of that still nondescript body and Hinata could do nothing but leap aside. It passed her by and returned to the milling storm above, but there were more. Even now, but seconds since the first assault, two more circled above, restless to drop down and attack. The others grew nearer with every moment.

Sweat ran down Hinata's arms, down her face, and down onto her hands. She gripped the kunai tighter to avoid slipping, but knew she wouldn't have a chance to use it. She couldn't fight these things, there was no way. She couldn't win, and she couldn't escape. They would dive and she would die.

She reset her fingers around the knife.

She would try.

"Hinata!"

She turned her head quickly and saw Kiba standing just a dozen yards off. He called her name again and waved his arms to beckon her over. Hinata looked up at the shapeless menaces, still circling. She lowered her knife slightly and ran to Kiba. He didn't say anything as she approached, just saw and then took off running into the relentlessly dark world.

They ran on through endless darkness. Hinata couldn't tell which beat faster, which beat harder, her heart or her feet pounding on the soft ground. Breath scraped in her ears and her head, but that rhythmic, painful sound could not outperform the horrors from behind .There were terrible sounds like sharp, stinking nightmares and bloody machines and perpetual, agonizing death. Hinata heard every vibration of these and felt something touching lightly on the heel of her foot every so often. She ran harder, she did not think, look only ahead, she ran harder.

She ran harder.

Hinata looked at her shoes and braced her hands on her knees. She watched her chest rise and fall and felt the coinciding tightness in her lungs. Gasps of air slid in and out but those couldn't quite sooth the thumping in her head. In the corner of her eye, Kiba just stood there, upright, watching as she fought so hard to catch her breath.

"I guess we're safe here."

She wondered even as he said this, even before, how they could have escaped. She looked past her shoes, just for a moment, and saw something like flooring. Hinata looked at the wall, looked up, looked out into the hallway, and finally looked back. There the same hallway stretched off forever and ever into a distant, unfathomable darkness.

Hinata stared into that dark infinity and was afraid, deathly afraid of going back that way.

Kiba chuckled darkly and it suited the hall in a terrible way.

"I guess we got lucky, getting away like that."

"But _how_ did we get away? It doesn't make much sense, when you think about it," Shikamaru said.

It was only as he spoke that Hinata noticed his presence. She looked up and saw that he was examining the wall, and gazing out into the darkness for several moments at a time.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Shikamaru said, and Hinata almost answered before she realized he was talking to himself. He looked out into the endless darkness and said it again, softer.

Hinata wondered the same thing to herself. She wondered what this place was, why it was so strange, and how they had come to be there. She looked down at her hands, shifted kunai to the other hand, and saw that the skin of her thumb was whole. No cut or scratch or scar, just plain flesh.


	3. A Hidden Enemy

Naruto remained wary of the distant clicking noises floating through the stagnant air. If that creature returned, there wasn't much he could do. However, in a place like this, he couldn't imagine encountering anything much nicer. Every surface was dark and grimy, seeming almost liquid from a distance. Sounds floated and bounced around, and Naruto could never tell if they were near or far. The hallway seemed to stretch on forever, or at least past the reach of the strange, dim light which simply existed around. It cast a weak greyness across everything, only intensifying the foreboding, but Naruto supposed it was better than blackness.

As he walked along, Naruto couldn't help wondering about the place, the hall, and why he was there. This was like no hall he had seen before, and that creature seemed straight out of a horror story. Of course, the whole situation seemed like that. One slow glance showed the hopeless sum of his equipment: one kunai in his right hand, and an empty, ceramic ramen bowl in the other. Naruto didn't even know why he was carrying the ramen bowl, couldn't remember where it had come from, but he didn't dare leave it behind. With such meager supplies at hand, he might be able to find a use for it, later.

However, it did carry the added curse of upsetting his stomach each time Naruto thought of it. At the moment, all the bowl seemed capable of was reminding him of food. It was dangerous to be distracted, but Naruto couldn't keep his mind from flitting off to memories of hot noodles.

A noise like slow whispering drifted through the air, and Naruto shoved the thoughts of food aside. At the corner of his eye, Naruto saw a pair of black-gloved hands reaching slowly out from the wall. One was empty, and the other held a kunai knife headed toward his gut. Naruto ducked aside from the attack, but felt an inhumanly cold hand close around his wrist. He flinched and fought to pull free, to swivel his own knife around, but the grip would not relent.

Before the hand with the knife could come back around, Naruto planted his foot on the wall and began to pull, hard. He felt something coming loose, slightly, and the attached arm began to slide out, struggling, inch by inch. The black glove seemed to stretch all the way up the person's arm, at least as far as the elbow.

Naruto had expected to be fending off the kunai as he pulled, but it merely slipped back into the wall with an ethereal, drifting sound. This left him to draw the remaining hand further into the open. It continued for three inches before Naruto felt something clamp around both of his ankles.

Forgetting the hand in the wall, Naruto looked down and saw two other hands, showing bare skin, gripping his ankles and pinning them still. He bucked his feet from the ground, only by an inch, and struggled against the twin restraints. The hand in the wall regained its power and clamped his own to the cool, slick stone. Naruto was pinned by three limbs, and armed with an empty bowl in the other. A faint noise floated from further up the hall, a shifting, whispering sound.

The kunai hand was back, three yards off and preparing to throw.

Naruto felt his eyes fly wide open and heard his blood begin to move faster. It thrummed in his ears and pushed his head near to bursting. Naruto struggled with new intensity, fighting to escape the path of the blade. The wall hand didn't budge, the two around his ankles would not. Naruto leaned, Naruto tried to jump or kick, to fall aside, nothing. He tried to think, could think only of the sweat all across his skin, soaking into his hair and clothes. His teeth clamped together and a dull pain sprouted in the muscles of his jaw. Sweat inches its way down Naruto's fingers and he felt the bowl close to slipping from his grasp.

The kunai left the hands grip, and Naruto struck upon his answer.

He moved quickly, half on instinct, pulled the bowl up in front of the kunai. It was risky, but this only half registered. It was less risky than just letting it hit him. Naruto fought his urge to wince as the kunai neared, and instead jerked his wrist slightly to the side, slightly in a circle. The kunai struck the bowl and sent up a dull crack through the air, but that twisting stole enough of its momentum as to drop the knife out of the air. It clattered on the ground, but Naruto did not move to retrieve it. Instead, he darted his hand into the air and plucked out a larger shard of the destroyed bowl, nearly the size of his palm and roughly triangular.

Naruto drove the shard through the black glove and the flesh beneath, producing dark blood and a muffled cry from somewhere within the wall. He didn't search for the source or consider anything else, only continued to shove the ceramic piece deeper, fighting constantly for purchase as the blood made it slick.

The same moment Naruto attacked, the black gloved hand released him and tried to pull back. Naruto, though, gripping with one hand an embedded ceramic piece, fought and drew it slowly out of the wall. The glove was long, covering the past the forearm, up past the shoulder, a full suit. The wall let loose a strange, constant, soft sound as the body passed through. It writhed in his hands but Naruto was stronger.

A person's upper body, clothed all in black, slipped slowly from the wall until Naruto found himself looking into dim grey eyes. Those were the only portion visible, and they stared into Naruto's own, wincing in pain.

Something about those eyes touched Naruto's memory, but could not quite reach a name, or any shape. Something of those eyes existed, but Naruto didn't know what.

There was a soft noise from below, and then the person was drawn back with much greater force. It overpowered Naruto's attempts, but he clung despite. The person's head and body were pulled away, his arm, and Naruto's arm. Past the wall, there was something empty and colder than anything Naruto had experience. His fingers were scratched and buffeted and quickly lost feeling.

His grasp slipped and Naruto fell back against the far wall. He stayed there for a long moment, just staring at where the person had been. There was a slight silence which extended forever, and stillness. The people were gone, and Naruto was alone, he knew.

Some memory of those eyes, though, eventually picked him up and sent him hunting. Naruto didn't know what he hunted, only that it was distantly familiar.

**XxXxX**

There were no sounds but the soft tapping from their three pairs of feet, and the uncertain murmurs which echoed from an unknown distance. Hinata listened to the silence under their perfectly repetitive movements. The air was cool and still and she felt like yawning, but never did. Hinata glanced behind into the endless length of hallway and then around at the back of Shikamaru's head. She didn't want to look into that void for too long, didn't want to think about it.

Kiba walked in the front of the line and she could just make out his movements past Shikamaru. Hinata didn't like them being so spread out. She felt alone at the back, as if anything might appear from the hall behind. She looked back again, nervous at even looking, but the hall was still empty. Always empty, forever empty.

A strange whispering slipped through the air and they all stopped. It was not distant like the echoes, but right upon them. Though she had just looked, Hinata felt compelled to turn again.

Shikamaru made a noise and Hinata looked at him, then past him. The wall over his shoulder seemed to have faded away in one section to plain, stark white. It bubbled slightly outward, but was not moving or growing. Hinata let out a start as a pair of black eyes opened, looked around, and then at Shikamaru only. Below, a pair of thin lips opened and began to move as if speaking, though there was no sound.

For several seconds it spoke without a voice. Kiba started to talk into the impossible silence, growling something angry or suspicious, but the air was then filled with a stranger's words. Hinata watched the pale face and realized the words did not match with its lips. The lips stopped moving, but the words continued.

They floated softly, slowly through the air, "There is an intruder… a hidden enemy… just behind you."

The words slipped away and were gone. Hinata looked over at the others, saw Kiba's obvious distrust and Shikamaru's slight frustration.

"What? What else?" he said, "Come on, say something."

"You're really believing this thing? How in the hell can you know it's not just lying to you?"

Shikamaru turned around slowly and, after a few second's contemplation, said, "I don't believe anything, not yet."

He stood looking at Kiba for another moment. Kiba seemed annoyed, from what Hinata could see of him.

That shuddering, shifting noise came again and they all turned like lightning. It was gone as if it had never been, with only the same decrepit surface remaining.

"What do you think it meant by that?" Hinata said, and her voice came out like a whisper.

Before anyone could answer, an exclamation burst from the hall ahead, bouncing all around the walls and striking a slight chord in Hinata's memory.

"There's someone else here!" Kiba said, already breaking into a run, "We've gotta go help them!"


	4. Strange Noise and Bloodbeat Ears

Naruto ran through the dark hall, ducking around turns and corners and listening to the soft rasp of breath inside his head. Darkness hung all around, sitting in each edge of the fall and only thinning by slight degrees to allow sight. Naruto worried constantly about tripping over something, or getting lost. The hall had begun to turn every few yards, as if it were trying to confuse him. Naruto didn't know how it could, or where he might be trying to find his way back to.

Maybe there was something in the heart of this maze that it didn't want him to find, whatever it was. The answer had been forming slowly in Naruto's head ever since he awoke, but it wasn't clear enough to understand. He almost remembered, almost knew, but still it lay just out of reach. Naruto thought about it, thought nearer, felt himself just nearly upon the knowledge.

A strange noise jumped up from ahead, but Naruto was deep in thought, almost upon the answer. He continued around the murky corner and was met by a long, black body erupting from the floor ahead. Naruto escaped underneath, ducking and moving quickly forward. Strange, crackling noises fell from above and he recognized the creature from his room. Dread fell cold to the pit of his stomach, and Naruto felt his throat bark out some cry of surprise. He moved quickly, though, readying his kunai and jabbing it upward even as he moved.

The knife lodged itself deep within the creature's black armor, and was stuck there, torn from Naruto's still-moving hand. He darted forward, turning only enough to see the weapon begin dissolving as purple blood dripped out across it. An acrid smell seeped into the air, and Naruto slipped out from under the creature.

There was no way he could fight this thing without a weapon, and Naruto had no other. He slipped out from beneath the creature and continued running down the hall. Naruto stayed own ad moved as quickly as he could, hoping to slip away before it could turn.

Something caught suddenly around Naruto's ankle and jerked his legs out from under. Naruto dropped to the floor and turned to start kicking. A bruise form the floor already throbbed on his shoulder, and Naruto saw the creature's segmented, black tail wrapped around his leg. The floor scrapped by and he watched the terrible thing struggle to turn around in the narrow hallway. It folded over itself and began to approach with a mechanical menace.

However Naruto fought, the tail wrapped around him, from the legs up, until his whole lower body was caught in the rough coil. He tried to move or pull himself out, but it was of no use. Naruto was pinned there and held still.

Naruto fought against its overwhelming power, shouted into the darkness in both ways, dug his fingers into the massive plate armor, and stared around for any possible way out. The only things to see were darkness, ruined wall, and the terrible body of that creature.

The longer Naruto fought, the less he was able. Strength and frantic energy began to drain from his limbs, and he soon found himself too winded to yell. The creature's body tightened continually around him, creaking and twisted.

Through the boiling air, Naruto's ears caught a distant whispering which only just existed above the groaning cacophony of struggling and involuntary groans. Naruto turned his head the few inches he was able and saw, in the corner of his aching eye, a round area of perfect white leaning out of the otherwise grimy wall. A pair of lips sprouted from the lower edge and Naruto realized it was a face, or some kind of mask. He fought to breathe but was losing. Those lips were moving, slowly, but Naruto realized he couldn't hear anything at all. Not the thing's words, not the creaking, or the struggle, or his heart beating madly away.

Naruto continued to fight with every bit of consciousness he could muster, but was only half aware of anything. His vision began to cloud. Shapes muddled and bled together until all that existed was terrible, crushing pain and uneven patches of color.

Still, though, Naruto lashed out with his arms and attacked with every chance he had. It did nothing, but he continued to fight. Something warm was pressed into his hand and Naruto curled his fingers in a half-crazed death grip. Whatever it was, Naruto drew it back and slammed it against the creature, forced it through the hard shell, out, in, shouting and striking with all he could.

An inhuman screech filled the air and, all at once, the creature uncoiled from around him. Naruto dropped to the floor and was only half able to catch himself. He lay against something hard, gasping for air as his body returned slowly to the same place as his consciousness. He didn't open his eyes, because they had never closed, but Naruto suddenly began to see again. He was leaning haggard against one of the walls, shoulder and head pressed right up against it for support.

The creature was still there, scrambling off ungainly and falling around against the floor and walls. Its screech continued to ring through Naruto's head. The damage was obvious, and the creature's shell seemed to be deteriorating away from that spot. The whole thing was falling apart to dust and dark blood and general wreckage. Before it could disappear completely into waste, the creature loosed one last screech and rolled off through the wall. It ran through for several seconds, and then was gone.

Something fell from Naruto's fingers and struck the floor with a metallic tinkle. Head still burning, Naruto looked down at the white kunai which stuck out plainly against the dark colored floor. Purple bloodstains scored the whole blade, but didn't' seem to have any effect. As Naruto watched, the white kunai sunk into the floor and was gone.

"Two of your friends are here with you," a gentle voice slipped through the air. "They are in danger, running with a killer in disguise."

Naruto looked at the wall, looked around, and just caught sight of the white mask as I slipped back into the wall. He watched the space where it had disappeared.

One more word floated through the still, heavy air, "Hurry."

Naruto pushed himself off the wall and forced his body to stand. His legs were weak and unbalanced, shifting beneath him, but Naruto put them back to work. They were jammed into movement and Naruto was running again, running as hard as he could through the nightmarish hall.

/

They ran after the voice in the distance, spurred especially on by the grunts and vague sounds of struggle. None of them spoke, but Hinata's head buzzed with thoughts. Every few moments she caught clear words from the voice, or just syllables, and was nearly able to recognize it. The voice felt familiar, but she couldn't quite grasp the owner's identity.

The loud movements and sounds of struggle all ceased at once, were cut off by an endless, grating shriek. Both Kiba and Shikamaru fell immediately still at this, stopped at once. Hinata caught a glimpse of Kiba's face as she continued a couple more steps, slow to react because of her thoughts. He seemed panicked, worried about whatever lay ahead.

Nothing moved for a few moments. Hinata stayed facing ahead, standing ahead of the others. She breathed heavily and listened for movement in the distance. She started to speak, but something touched her ears and drove the words back.

"Two of your friends are here with you. They are in danger, running with a killer in disguise."

Hinata's breath caught. She almost thought this was a message to her, and she almost began to worry about the other two, but the reality struck her immediately after that moment of denial. She was overhearing a message to someone else, speaking of the danger to her.

Shikamaru grunted just a moment after the slight voice fell silent. Kiba started to say something, but it was cut short. Sounds of shuffling and strange whispers reached Hianta's bloodbeat ears even as she spun around.

She was alone in the endless hallway and could easily see nothing forever. To one side the wall shivered and rippled. Beyond, Hinata somehow heard shouts and different sounds of struggle. Kiba growled something, shouted something, and there was another voice too.

Hinata stood still, staring at the wall. The sounds stopped as the surface fell still. He hall grew silent and Hinata began to feel the endless darkness ahead.

"Hurry."

The voice was soft as if just behind her. Hinata turned but nothing was there. She looked back at the wall and out into the darkness. There was nothing she could do. She wanted to help but there wasn't away.

After a long moment of painful hesitation, Hinata ran.


	5. Out of Reach

She ran hard down the dark, twisting hallway. The once simple passage now led in every direction and gave off a labyrinthine sense of confusion and menace. Hinata had pulled out a kunai as she ran, and now held it ready for whatever could appear around the next corner. That moment of turning was always stressful, but never resulted in anything.

Hinata turned the corner and nearly jabbed her kunai in to Naruto. She froze before the knife had moved more than a few inches. He was similarly still, nearly crouched as he had prepared to lunge forward. They stared at each other for a long moment before a faint grin spread across Naruto's face. At first it bewildered her but, as that grew into a chuckle, Hinata let out a slight smile of her own.

Naruto's laughter ceased suddenly, and he cocked his head to once side.

"What's this? He said, looking down the new third hall.

Hinata stared down its infinite length and couldn't say anything.

"We need to go this way," he said, and began to run.

Hinata followed him, still feeling confused and clutching the kunai in her fist as she ran. After they had been running for a minute or so, Hinata spoke through the weighted breath of effort.

"Do you know something about this place?"

"Just that it's strange," he said, and we're not alo-"

He disappeared sideways, head and shoulders slipping through the wall as if it were just air. A muffled cry escaped before his head was submerged. As Hinata watched, the whole right side of him slipped out of sight and the whole left struggled frantically.

Before thinking, Hinata jumped forward and reached her empty hand in after him. The wall was cool and strangely smooth, just like a pond. It flowed gently around her arm and posed no obstacle. The air beyond was terribly, painfully cold and it bit at her waving fingers. They became almost numb within seconds.

Hinata caught onto something and began to pull. Naruto slipped back an inch but was pulled in once more by an invisible force on the other side. It seemed much stronger than she was, and it occurred to Hinata for a moment that she might lose hold of Naruto and be forced by her own weakness to watch him tumble forward out of reach.

She wouldn't fail him.

Hinata adjusted her grip on the kunai in her other hand and took a deep breath. She leaned forward, past Naruto, into the wall and the pure lit world beyond. It was a cold, endlessly white place with a sort of glare and light from everywhere. In the distance she caught sight of Kiba and two dark figures, and absolutely near at hand was a ninja dressed all in black with long gloves. One had been broken already to show a bloody spot of gouged flesh.

She hoped that Kiba would be alright, but there was nothing she could do for him. She could only worry about Naruto now. Hinata dragged the kunai across the ninja's arm and watched the glove split to show raw flesh beneath. The ninja made a noise and recoiled, releasing his hold on Naruto.

The pair of them fell back through the wall, propelled by momentum and gravity. The white was immediately replaced with darkness of such magnitude that it hurt Hinata's eyes. The change did continued as they fell past and through the hall's other side.

Through the floor, they floated off into a warm, violet place. Even as Hinata became conscious, she began to recognize the sense of it. The violet was slowly shifting to something else, and Hinata felt a lump forming in her throat.


	6. Cornered in a Bright World

Shikamaru stood panting between two ninja with a kunai in his hand. He looked first at one, then the other, and back to the first. He moved his eyes quickly, and thought quickly. One was clothed all in black with bare arms, and the other was Kiba. They were both watching his every move, so Shikamaru was careful to stay still but for observing them in return.

He should have acted as soon as he saw through the disguise. It hadn't taken long, but Shikamaru had wanted to be certain before making any more. He had been too careful and lost the opportunity. Shikamaru wished also that he could have told Hinata what he knew, but that had seemed too risky as well. He couldn't be sure she wasn't just another of them, but now she had been left alone and without information. It was too late to help her, and there was no use dwelling in the past.

Shikamaru observed the bright world beyond his assailants and knew without a doubt that it had been designed specifically for killing him. Light came from everywhere, and there was nowhere to hide. They had done their homework, or found the information in his head before confronting him there. With so much light, there could be no shadows, and without that jutsu he had little combat advantage.

Shikamaru ducked aside from Kiba's kunai and adjusted his stance for the incoming rush. A flurry of punches followed shortly behind the knife, but Shikamaru was able to avoid most of them. Whatever other flaws the copy possessed, Kiba's speed had been mirrored perfectly. As fluidly as he moved, Shikamaru could not fully escape every strike, and the brunt of those few was felt through flesh and bone.

Kiba chattered at him constantly through the attack. It was all confidence, pure cocky blather. The disguise was almost perfect, would have been if not for the damningly cautious actions of the ninja wearing it.

Shikamaru was pushed back by fists, kicks, and the kunai which was eventually brought into the fight. Despite taking some damage, he was mostly able to stay out of Kiba's way. A few hard bruises, and a few nicks were all that remained to show of the onslaught, and the seeping weariness which came of the constant evasion.

The second, dark clad ninja joined in suddenly, and Shikamaru was only barely able to avoid massive damage. Four legs, four fists, two knives between them. The cuts and bruises multiplied, but Shikamaru continued to sidestep the worst injuries. Those were all he could avoid, and the rest either dealt glancing damage or hit straight on. They were beating him, badly, and there didn't seem to be much he could do to change the tides of this. There were no shadows, no terrain, no resources except those in his belt. He didn't know these ninja so he couldn't attempt much on a psychological scale. It was all coming down to brute muscle and speed, neither of which had ever been his forte.

Somehow, between the attacks, Shikamaru noticed a third in the distance. He knew immediately, without a doubt, that if the third joined in, he would die. That was all the thought he could waste toward that matter. If the third ninja became involved, it was checkmate. Any plan would need to work off the assumption that the other ninja would stay aside for some reason. It was there for now, removed from the struggle, apparently preoccupied with something.

A particularly forceful blow landed square on Shikamaru's chest and knocked his feet from the ground. He stumbled back and his knees buckled for just long enough to throw him entirely off balance. Shikamaru continued with the fall and rolled away. Still, though, the impact and momentum threw him to the ground. He was tired, quickly losing the ability to deal with these attacks. At this rate, the fight wouldn't last much longer.

Almost exactly as Shikamaru struck the ground, the world became unclear and shifted for just a moment to something grey and shadowy. This brought out a moment of hope for Shikamaru, but it was gone just as quickly as it had flashed into existence. The controlled, ultimately defeating luminance took precedence once more.

He looked up and saw that the two were distracted by something in the distance, both looking away. Shikamaru snaked a hand to his belt and retrieved a kunai. Not quite so perfect as the other momentary slip, but this was what had been given.

Shikamaru started to get up, but something below caught his eye. It was the same bulging white mask which had brought a warning before. It looked up at him with clam, dark eyes and its lips began to move. Shikamaru cocked his head and prepared to listen.


	7. Meeting of Two

"Where the heck are we? This place is so weird… It's almost familiar but it's also different from anything I've seen."

Hinata watched while Naruto wandered ahead through the green expanse. It was all strange and shifting, sometimes a field and sometimes a forest, but always filled with some kind of greenery. Naruto spoke loudly into the thin air, and his words floated off into infinity. Hinata didn't say a word, just observed and stayed back behind him. Naruto seemed to be charging through in search of something, but she could only wonder what they were doing back here and when they would leave.

She had recognized the place immediately, and was starting to wonder if Naruto ever would.

From somewhere ahead in the now-thick trees there appeared a sound of scuffling and muffled voices. Hinata heard and didn't want to continue that way, but Naruto beckoned and ran off toward the noise. Hinata ran after him and they both stopped on the other side.

All they could do was stare at the fight from years before.

A young, blonde boy in orange battled furiously against three others about his size. Hinata caught sight of the younger girl a few feet away, but she didn't think Naruto even saw her. He was too caught in watching the ongoing struggle. The fight was almost an even match. Though the three boys were certainly winning, the blonde youth put up a heroic fight.

Hinata noticed Naruto had started to approach, as if to intervene. His body was frozen in that position of half movement, and he just stood there watching. His head tilted town so that a darkness fell across his face.

"This isn't how it happened. I remember this and they beat me real fast. It wasn't even a fair fight."

Hinata didn't want to give anything away, but she couldn't keep from speaking.

"That's because this isn't your memory of it. I remember it differently.

Naruto looked down and cocked his head slightly to the side. As Hinata watched him, the five children started to fade. She saw them in the corner of her eye, disappearing from the still clearing like mist. She saw the village beyond the tress, just the edge of a fence and the adjacent walkway.

"You must have thought I was really something."

"I still do."

The words passed her lips without thought and Hinata wished she could take them back out of the air. She glanced over at Naruto, just for a moment, and realized with a start that he was looking at her. She brought her gaze quickly back to the forest ahead and swallowed heavily. Heavy pulse was in her ears and easy to hear over the longer period of silence.

"I don't even know why we're here…"

She murmured this and wasn't sure whether Naruto heard. Eventually he announced that they should explore the village. This momentarily broke the strange silence and Hinata could only sigh. They wandered slowly from that spot in the forest and soon were moving through streets they both knew. It was disconcerting to view the village shifting constantly between one state of being and another.

It struck Hinata as odd that her memories might be in such a state of disarray, but one glance over gave a reason for being so flustered. It only made things worse as she imagined what else they might encounter. She tried not to think of those for fear the thoughts might summon them. Why were they even in this place?

Hinata thought about it for a long time as they wandered and finally considered a plausible possibility. As she had fought to pull Naruto back through the wall, she had been thinking of how much he had done for her and of their history together. She had probably even touched on that moment in the woods in the process of forcing herself to fight harder. It could have been that, by thinking so deliberately in such a direction, she had somehow affected the uncertain nature of that place.

How was that possible? What kind of hall could that have been to be molded directly by her thoughts? She couldn't quite wrap her mind around it, but she settled on that idea as the truth. Whatever this place was, it was suggestible and not part of the real world. Hinata wished that they could have been taken to some other part of her head, or else that she had come here with a different person.

But did she really? Hinata glanced over at Naruto, saw him intently watching the shifting scenery, and only just noticed that she was finally alone with him. In the midst of terrible danger, yes, but that seemed to have subsided for the moment, at least. There was no imminent threat, just the two of them.

Naruto began to speak abruptly and it drew Hinata instantly out from her thoughts.

"I remember this. This is how I remember these places, but not… not quite. I can see the places I've spent time so clearly, and those I've never been to are hardly even there. But some of them are different. I have never set foot or even really noticed that building but it's so defined. I don't understand."

"I've been in there… several times before. I suppose this is a sort of mixing of our memories, since we are both here."

The words surprised Hinata even as they slipped out. Every word in this otherworldly place had. It was as if she had been possessed to be speaking so clearly. She might have some idea of the nature of their surroundings, but the other explanation still escaped her. She wasn't comfortably, not exactly, but words seemed to come easier somehow.

"Both our memories, huh? But why are we even here? You said that before, and now I can't help thinking about it. We were in that hallway before, and then we just weren't. I don't even remember what happened. I was getting attacked by something in the wall, and pulled in… There was white everywhere and it was cold, then everything flashed and we were here."

"I pulled you back out. It was another ninja attacking us from inside the wall. I don't remember seeing any headband, but we can assume they aren't friendly.

"Yeah… they've made that pretty clear. Thanks for saving me, even though I can't remember. They've been after me in one way or another since I woke up here, and they're always tough. Especially with that… thing. I'm sure it wasn't easy."

"I just did what you always do. I knew I couldn't let him take you, so I found a way to win."

Naruto glanced around at the strange and familiar surroundings and chuckled.

"We'd better look around some more," he said.

They walked off from there and continued to examine the multifaceted representation of their village. As Naruto had pointed out, there were places clearly visible which Hinata hardly recognized and others which she could hardly see despite the plain daylight. It was as if certain buildings were cast from thick fog and weren't as real as the others.

That was ridiculous, since none of them were real.

Naruto became suddenly alert and rushed off toward one of the smaller buildings. Hinata ran off after him and they stopped in front of the ramen place he frequented. For a moment she didn't understand what had caught his attention in such a way. However, Naruto moved slightly and she was able to see the disturbance over his shoulder.

The ramen place was exactly as it always was, including the orange clad figure sitting at one of the barstools and leaning over the counter. Mounds of bowls were piled around the other Naruto, though he didn't move to touch any of them or ever eat.

"What the heck…" Naruto's voice was slow and uncertain. He didn't approach the doppelganger, just watched with his arms half clenched as if he were afraid of it. "Why am I here? Why am I… there?"

"It's a memory," Hinata said, though were voice was quiet.

"No… that's what I thought at first, but… why aren't there any other people here? And why would I have a memory of myself? I don't see myself. I don't talk to myself. I just am. I wouldn't know what the back of my head looks like either."

Everything he said was true. Even as he spoke it became thoroughly apparent that this wasn't his memory. It was Hinata's memory of him sitting there. She inched back away from him, as if to run or hide, as his questions grew steadily nearer to the truth. She couldn't run, though, couldn't leave him alone here and didn't want to be alone herself.

"I know it's not my memory, it couldn't be. So it… it must be yours. Either that or it's one of them in disguise."

That thought hadn't occurred to her, but it wasn't true. The other Naruto was clearer than everything else she had seen here, just as her memory of him would be. This is where he would be found, if anywhere. From the certain seat to the stacks of bowls, it was all right.

"I've got to check," he said, "in case this thing will sneak up on us later."

Naruto crept forward silently. He readied his arms for grappling and started to circle around the ramen stand. He was almost past the copy, eyes intently upon it, when he stopped. Naruto shook his head and then walked back nonchalantly."

"It's a memory. There isn't another side to it. Right around the ears it just tapers off and there's nothing on the other end. It's really weird."

Hinata swallowed hard and hoped they would just keep walking after that. However, Naruto continued to inquire.

"If it's not mine, it can't be my memory, then it must be yours." He laughed a little, "Of all things, why is your memory of me here? There's gotta be a thousand things more important, but for some reason…"

"No…"

Her throat shut tight after that syllable, but the quiet damage was done. Naruto cut off mid phrase and turned his attention onto her. Hinata felt her skin threatening to turn red. She fought the automatic urge to look away and studied his face. She could only do this for a second before it was too much, but there was a curious look in his eyes.

From the corner of her vision, Hinata saw him look away again, and around.

"Why is it so much clearer than everything else, huh? I mean, the ramen stand isn't that clear and you must've seen it as many times as you've seen me sitting there. It's not like you'd just be looking at me or anything." He laughed softly, a stuttering chuckle. "It's not like you have a crush on me."

"I… uh…"

Her jaw clamped tight and Hinata couldn't force it to open. She couldn't make any sound, couldn't make herself look at him. Her eyes were stuck on something in the distance, something unimportant and invisible, but she couldn't look away.

There was silence. Long, strange, itching silence.

She listened to Naruto breathing in and out, heard her own nearly inaudible breaths.

Time passed. Years.

"Uh… do you?"

She still couldn't speak, but Hinata forced her eyes back to Naruto. His were wide and blue and searching.

Hinata opened her mouth but there wasn't any sound. She was tortuously without words. Looking into his yes and at this point and forced silence, Hinata wanted to cry.

Something changed in Naruto's eyes as he started to understand.

She tried to mouth 'yes' to finish it, but her voice came out with the word 'look'.

Naruto's brows furrowed at the sound of this, but he turned around to follow her pointing finger. Out in the distance, where she had been trapped staring a few moments ago, was a familiar write mask embedded in a wall, watching them.

"We… we need to… we need to follow it." Naruto said, choking on some thought.

With chills running down her body, Hinata followed Naruto as he chased after the mask. Every time they grew near to it, the mask disappeared and floated up at some point farther away. It led them through the village and always in a certain direction.

Eventually they came to an apartment building. It led them up through the stairwell and to a door. It stayed in the middle of the door, watching them. The knob below was shifting and black as if constructed from dark clouds or the fog of a nightmare.

"This is my room." Naruto said, the first words in minutes. "Why are we here?"

"It wants us to go in." Hinata said, and turned the knob. It was cold in her hand.


	8. Perfect Violence

Shikamaru stood across from Kiba, panting and covered with sweat. The other ninjas were gone. Shikamaru didn't know where and he didn't have time to wonder. There was a kunai clenched in one of his hands and that hand shook a little from the effort of holding onto it. He was nearing exhaustion, would probably collapsed before very much longer.

Kiba was still cocky as always, talking away into the air thought Shikamaru hardly listened. He sifted through enough to know it was just more gloating, more trivial excess perfectly in character. Shikamaru had no doubt the ninja was enjoying this. It was obvious that he still had plenty of strength left, and that he could end this fight in a moment if he only wished. The truth was that Kiba was playing with him. Shikamaru was well aware of this, but he just needed to stall for a little while longer.

His senses pricked and Shikamaru sidestepped the shuriken. He needed to conserve his energy. Even that movement set a lens of weary fog across his eyes. Shikamaru shook his head and continued to watch Kiba, searching for any tactic that could buy him a minute.

Although he hadn't paid much attention to the last line of vain gibberish, Shikamaru interjected, "I probably would have believed it too, if Akamaru had been with you. Those two are never far apart."

Kiba didn't respond. Their eyes were locked, but Shikamaru saw him thinking, saw that settle into a bare-toothed smirk. Kiba's eyes flicked and Shikamaru pressed his last burst of strength into spinning around. Akamaru was there, nearly upon him already, leaping out from the floor as a surreal, nightmarish extension. The dog didn't slow as Shikamaru cut it, but quickly retreated from the blade before any mortal wounding. Akamaru disappeared with a whimper, but Shikamaru was more aware of the surprised cry from behind.

"What did you…?"

Shikamaru turned and saw the results he had hoped for. Kiba stood staggered, confused and bleeding from a wound just like Akamaru's. It was the same wound, proportionally stretched across Kiba's chest. His eyes were wild and enraged.

"This is as much my dream as it is yours." Shikamaru said, readying himself for the assault. "As long as I've known them, those two have always been like the same person…"

For a moment it just sank in, the fact that Shikamaru had used this snare against the hunter. The realization quickly gave way to Kiba's patent animal rage. As the other ninja charged forward, Shikamaru mused at just how perfect a copy this was of Kiba. If all this was inside of his head, if they had access to his memories of Kiba existing, then they must have been able to construct a façade from the memories themselves. Everything he remembered of Kiba would be appropriated into this form. It had just been luck that this ninja had never head of the Inazuka clan and their companions, or else he certainly would have included Akamaru in the disguise. Just luck, and that was the only meaningful blow he had managed to land thus far.

As their bodies met, Shikamaru found himself too tired to do anything but grapple. He lost consciousness of the knife in his hand and just wrapped himself around Kiba's arms. They fell to the ground and Kiba broke free almost immediately. Shikamaru was weak, running on nothing but hope by then. He struggled to regain his grip and only knew he had lost the kunai by the sound of it clattering away.

Kiba beat him to the ground and continued the onslaught past bloodsmeared blindness. Shikamaru could only hear the impacts, and was just dimly aware of his head knocking against the ground. His fingers scrambled up along Kiba's mad body and found some place were the new wound opened. Only marginally aware, Shikamaru dug his fingers into the bloody flesh and heard Kiba's agony mixed in somewhere with the pounding.

Kiba lost his balance from that and Shikamaru struggled forward, bucking his hips and throwing the other ninja over. For a moment it was reversed, with Shikamaru dominant and beating Kiba's head against the ground. He noticed something, though, something slight in the distance.

The white mask had appeared against the pure pale surface of this place. It was moving slowly, stepping out from its hiding place. Dark robes appeared, stark against both plain shades. It began a methodical, menacing approach.

This distraction allowed Kiba to knock Shikamaru back over onto the ground and begin pummeling him once more. Shikamaru became blind again, lost except for the sounds of perfect violence.


	9. Into the Void

His apartment door gave way to a dark miasma floating about in a void. It felt cold, not from a wind or air current or anything specific, just cold. Naruto saw Hinata hesitate in the face of this strangely chilling sight. Her head twitched once to the side, and then she whispered something.

"I guess we need got to go in…" she said.

Naruto didn't say anything, but still she stepped out into the void. Breath stuck in his throat for a moment, almost certain that she would simply fall or float away once entering the mystically disturbed room. It had a normal floor, though, and she just walked out into all of it. Naruto waited a moment before following her out into the shifting darkness.

Only once they were both surrounded did Naruto realize how it was all fluctuating. It was like being inside of a flashing like. Scenes of all sorts were playing over each other, visible only in bursts. It was as if every memory either knew were reoccurring all at once and frantically fighting for space in the air.

"What is this?" Naruto looked back and felt his stomach twist. "The door's gone. It's just us… and this."

"Whatever we need to do," Hinata said, watching the mad images with a calm expression on her face, "It's going to be done here."

Naruto nodded because that was all he could do. The rapid changes were slowing. He could pick out individual scenes, and they were of stark and disturbing contrast. Sometimes there were nice things shown, sunshine and food and flowers, but other times the images turned darker. There were many horrific sights weaving through the collage.

"Dreams and nightmares…" Naruto said, and then stumbled back. Out of a particularly demented image had leapt a quick form, and he reacted with just enough time to turn the kunai aside and set out an attack of his own. Naruto almost turned to warn Hinata, but there wasn't enough time to avoid his adversary empty-handed, and she was already caught in her own fight.

There were two ninja, clad all in black, both appearing from within the nightmare imagery. As Naruto struggled to keep his opponent at bay, he noticed one hand dripping dark blood from beneath a hasty bandage. He knocked a punch aside, felt it glance off his shoulder, and darted in for a strike at the ribs. He realized this ninja was not using any more weapons, and it seemed headed for a hand to hand fight.

The surroundings shifted at the edge of Naruto's perspective, but he could not pay them much mind. This ninja was tough, always quick and moving a little ahead of him. Naruto did all he could to keep up. He noticed a log beneath his feet and managed to sidestep over it. The other ninja struggled a moment with this and Naruto saw that they were in a forest. Beyond the skin of the place was a strange, swirling night, but there was no time to investigate that. The area was changing even as he watched, and the ninja was upon him again.

The air was cold, the air was warm, and sunlight came and went all through the struggle. In every moment the world was changing, shifting through different settings. The battle went around as well. They seemed to be a match, or near to that at this point. In some moments Naruto dominated, and in others he could only struggle to escape injury. Naruto eventually noticed that changing landscape reflected these leanings. Between nightmare and nice, green and horrific, various welcoming and hostile environments to match the tide of their battle, or else the tide was turned by the changings.

Though the flurried haze of conflict and shifting backgrounds, Naruto caught sight of Hinata in the midst of her own battle. She seemed to be struggling just as desperately against the unrelenting, black-clad ninja. He only saw her for a moment or so with each passing, but she remained frequently visible, somewhere floating around the daydream arena. There was blood on her hands, but he couldn't tell who it belonged to.

That image of her flashing around and fighting like hell bombarded its way into his mind even as he darted around and around with his own adversary. He thought only in clips and phrases and blurs of movement, but with every thought that wasn't of the other ninjas and their danger, Naruto thought of her fighting madly and how she had always fought madly.

A fist knocked against Naruto's chest but he slipped backward even as it made contact. Naruto jumped and flipped over through the air. He touched down at the same moment the ninja moved into that space. Naruto threw a fist, a kick, blocked, twisted. They were caught for a moment, arms wrapped and stuck there.

Past the seething, shrouded figure was Hinata, frozen also in a slow moment of combat and staring his way. Their eyes locked for a second, a half second, the smallest time but still it did something. Naruto scrambled out of the ninja's grasp and jumped away. The scenery was starting to change, slipping out of its darker shades and shapes by the moment. As Naruto charged forward again, he noticed the floor covered with thick vines draped in rolling layers across everything. He was careful to stay on top of these, but the other ninja was not so agile. His foot sank straight through the green mass and it all began to writhe around the intrusion.

The vines twisted up the ninja's legs, moving faster than anything could actually, running higher and tighter until he was absolutely disabled. Naruto stopped and just looked at the incapacitated opponent. He struggled and growled, but there was no escape. Naruto searched around for a moment and soon found Hinata standing before the other ninja, also caught.

Naruto looked back at the ninja he had been fighting and wasn't sure what to do. There was no way for the opponent to escape or inflict any damage now. Naruto didn't have any method or reason to kill him on the spot, but there didn't seem anything else to do. He looked back at Hinata and was startled by a dark figure moving near her.

Before he could say anything, Naruto saw the stark white mask it wore. The figure darted past her before she noticed and killed the trapped ninjas in a spray of blood. That gore had not touched down before the masked figure was near Naruto and killing the other. After that, it was just gone.

Everything that once was there was drained away instantly like water into an invisible drain, leaving them in a plain white room. Hinata was only a few feet away and staring around curiously. She let out a startled noise and Naruto followed her gaze to a corner of the room. Shikamaru lay there, tucked up against the edge, bruised and bloodied and watching them silently.

"Are you okay?" she said.

Both of them dropped down next to him and were shocked by the weakness of his voice.

"I'll be fine… I guess this is the end of the dream, huh? I should have told you before. That mask… it must be some sort of… hunter…"

Even as he muttered this, Shikamaru began to grow faint. His whole body became transparent within seconds and then he had gone.

The room was white and empty but for them. They looked at each other, but they were both already fading.

Naruto wanted to say something, but it was too late.


	10. The Invisible Gaze

Hinata opened her eyes to sunlight streaming through loose leaves. Her fingers and face were moist from dew, and a thin layer of it lay across her clothes. She started to sit up, but paused in a wide yawn. There were small sounds around, just meandering creaks of the morning. There was a strange, soft sensation in her mind, and Hinata succeeded in sitting up the second time. She looked around at the grass and trees and listened to faint sounds beneath everything. Her fingers felt stiff from the slight chill, but Hinata worked them in and out of a fist to get the blood flowing again.

In glancing over the mostly still grass, Hinata noticed the near submerged forms of Naruto and Shikamaru. They were both asleep, or seemed so from what she could see. Shikamaru almost blended in with the grass, and she could only tell he was there from the movements of his breathing. Naruto, though, stuck out brazenly orange. A nearer rustling put her attention right on him as Naruto began to shift and finally sat up. He looked around with eyes mostly shut and looked right past as if she were invisible. He murmured inaudibly for a few moments, more like groans than anything, but then something seemed to startle and catch his attention.

Naruto looked out into the grass and said, "There's a ninja there… dead. I think… Just lying in the grass."

He just stared out in that direction without any other reactions. Hinata shifted so that she could see, and did see the still, prostrate form. She was confused at first, but the dream then returned to her, and past that, the mission they had been on before. It seeped back with that image and she knew the same had happened for Naruto.

Before anything could be said, a pained groan slipped from Shikamaru's mostly motionless body. His eyes were open and he was looking between them.

"Could you two help me up… over to that log…"

Hinata nodded slowly and rose in time with Naruto. They appraised Shikamaru's wounds before lifting him. They were visible, at least by the stains in his clothes, but didn't seem to be actively bleeding. If he was dying, Shikamaru would have been more urgent, so he was probably just exhausted. They set him down on the log and Hinata watched him as he observed the small clearing through calm, critical eyes. The body lay nearby and still as ever. It occurred to Hinata that there didn't seem any dew on the surface of it. She wondered if Shikamaru had noticed that.

A soft sound of feet patting down was the only tell of the newcomer's appearance. They all looked up at the white masked ninja even as it appeared. The ninja moved very slowly and thoughtfully, watching them for a moment before hoisting the body across its shoulder with one firm motion. The body slumped over with another slight patting sound and then the air was still again.

"I apologize," the ninja said, its voice crisp and cool, "for allowing these criminals to interfere with your mission." The ninja paused and looked between them. The invisible gaze lingered across and Hinata could almost feel the eyes behind the mask. "You were very clever to see through it as you did."

The ninja's invisible gaze had settled on Shikamaru, but that was only for a second. After that it disappeared out into the surrounding trees, leaving only a faint rustling which echoed from above. That faded quickly, once more leaving a thick and cool silence. Hinata heard a bird in the distance which blended into the quiet air.

Shikamaru did not waste time with any silence, however calm. He seemed to quickly forget about all that had occurred in favor of pondering the future of their mission. He brought his fingers together into a curled bunch and stared intently over it into the grass. A few murmurs of thought escaped from the corners of his mouth, but otherwise he seemed totally inert.

Hinata wondered for herself whether they should continue, whether they would be able to in this state, especially with Shikamaru's wounds, but that quickly subsided into an observation of the forest. She wondered if it had really just been chance which brought those ninja onto their path. She cocked her head at the though and looked back the other way. Her eyes started to pause on Naruto but were caught in his, impossibly already set this way.

The old itching in her stomach told her to avert her gaze toward anything but, somehow, Hinata found the strength to ignore it. Neither spoke or looked away, and in the background Shikamaru puzzled over their mission. Hinata's blood beat heavy rhythms in her head, and she wondered if Naruto heard a similar sound.


End file.
